Inside Stellantis’ plan to revive its Ram Vans model after yearslong gross sales declines
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis reemerged from a seven-month retirement late final 12 months saying he “missed the combat” and admitting the Stellantis model was getting smashed within the market by its competitors.
Kuniskis walked on stage throughout a media occasion because the audio system blared Detroit rapper Eminem singing “Guess who’s again, again once more.” He promised an aggressive turnaround for the embattled truck model that’s now getting underway and can prolong by means of 2026.
The plan contains greater than 25 bulletins by means of subsequent 12 months. To this point they’ve included a return to NASCAR with mechanical bull rides and a brand new race truck, the resurrection of Hemi V-8 engines with a brand new “Image of Protest,” and, most lately, a brand new industry-leading powertrain guarantee for its Ram merchandise.
Since returning after a CEO shake-up, Kuniskis is invigorated. He’s “flying with no parachute,” as he lately described it, whereas enjoying with borrowed time and home cash since his unretirement. He’s going all in to launch a renaissance of Ram, which has skilled a 38% gross sales decline since its report 12 months again in 2019.
“I’ve good readability of my return as a result of, after I left and had an opportunity to relaxation, I spotted I didn’t want to go away, I simply wanted a break. Then I used to be itching to come back again,” Kuniskis informed CNBC throughout a latest interview in his comparatively undecorated workplace. (He gave lots of his profession keepsakes away when he retired.) “We’ve got a window of alternative right here to repair plenty of stuff, and a few individuals are stressed by that chance, and a few individuals are fueled by it. Fortunately, our group is fueled by it.”
Kuniskis, who was main Ram and Dodge upon his retirement mid-last 12 months, stated an array of points led to the model’s present state of affairs, together with the automaker’s pricing, mannequin launch cadence and, most significantly, issues with a redesign of its Ram 1500. That redesign led to manufacturing points which are nonetheless being labored out greater than a 12 months after the car’s launch.
“We tried to do too many issues without delay,” Kuniskis stated of the Ram 1500. “We actually modified the whole lot as a substitute of doing a cadence of the modifications.”
Kuniskis didn’t contact on the bigger points Stellantis was coping with underneath former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, who left the automaker in December. Kuniskis was recruited again to Ram amid the change in management.
Turnaround plan
Ram is without doubt one of the most vital of Stellantis’ 14 manufacturers — if not an important. It competes within the extremely worthwhile full-size pickup truck market and {industry} consultants stated its success is essential to the corporate reestablishing itself within the industrial gross sales market.
“It’s sort of the spine of their enterprise,” stated Joseph Yoon, client insights analyst at CarMax’s knowledge and client automotive procuring website Edmunds.com. “The market share is vastly vital.”
Market share for the Ram 1500 within the U.S. full-size pickup truck market has plummeted from 17.8% in 2019 to eight.4% by means of roughly the primary half of this 12 months, in accordance with Edmunds.
Ram’s gross sales of full-size vehicles, which incorporates the 1500 and bigger variations, have declined 41% from 2019 by means of 2024, in accordance with firm knowledge, permitting rivals corresponding to Common Motors and Toyota Motor to extend gross sales throughout that point.
Whereas it’s early into the turnaround plan, which matches into subsequent 12 months, Ram has already resurrected its in style Hemi V-8 engine; reintroduced lower-priced pickup truck fashions; introduced a return to NASCAR; and launched a 10-year/100,000 restricted powertrain guarantee for brand new vehicles throughout its lineup, amongst different issues.
Kuniskis has stated additional bulletins might embody a number of new potential automobiles, together with a passenger van and midsize pickup truck that’s anticipated in 2027. He’s additionally launched a “Nothing Stops Ram” advertising and marketing marketing campaign and delayed the model’s electrified pickup vehicles amid low market demand.
“There’s all the time a technique to the insanity,” Kuniskis stated. “There’s all the time a enterprise purpose behind one thing that looks like enjoyable.”
A part of that “enjoyable” features a return to NASCAR truck racing, the place followers can “Journey the Hemi” — a mechanical bull trip that appears just like the model’s new “Image of Protest” brand that options the engine with a ram’s head. If riders can keep on for 15 seconds, they obtain a special-edition T-shirt that may’t be bought.
Its splashy return to NASCAR earlier this month in Michigan additionally included a brand new truck design, in addition to a car doing doughnut burnouts.
Kuniskis declined to reveal gross sales targets for the Ram model or its full-size pickup vehicles, however he stated the corporate is aiming for a market share someplace between 20% and 29.9% for its full-size vehicles by the top of the plan. Ram Vans had a roughly 17% share of the U.S. full-size pickup truck market in 2024, in accordance with {industry} knowledge.
“I do know precisely the place we need to be and what our expectations are,” he stated. “I ought to legitimately have a market share that begins with a two. … That’s a place to begin for us.”
However Kuniskis stated market share is just one metric and that plant utilization and earnings are additionally vital. Whereas Ram’s total gross sales are down, he stated retail gross sales — a intently watched metric — are anticipated to be up by about 28% by means of the primary half of the 12 months.
“You don’t need to chase share only for the sake of chasing share,” he stated. “I need to have all vegetation operating at full capability to maximise my effectivity.”
‘Final Tenth LFG’
Kuniskis wears a black band on his left wrist with white lettering that reads “Final Tenth LFG.”
The primary half has been a mantra of Kuniskis’ for years to push his prime lieutenants to carry out as greatest as they will. The latter half is an acronym with many meanings, together with “let’s freaking go.”
“Once you had been at school, they informed you ‘Get an ‘A,’ the whole lot will probably be nice. You’ll achieve success in life.′ Not true. Not true,” Kuniskis stated. “They bear in mind the man that means pushed past simply getting an ‘A’ at school and did one thing totally different, push that final tenth.”
Kuniskis handed out the wristbands to his group in addition to the model’s sellers throughout his return to an annual vendor convention in January as a method to regain the belief of shops after years of contentious relations over incentives, merchandise and worth will increase.
To date it appears to be working, in accordance with Michael Bettenhausen, a vendor in Illinois who chairs the Stellantis Nationwide Vendor Council.
“Every part that Tim has confirmed us has us satisfied that the model is on a path to get again to the volumes that we’ve seen from years previous,” Bettenhausen stated. “We’re actually excited that Tim is main this cost. It’s actually exceptional.”
Bettenhausen additionally stated the full-size pickup truck market is essential to the success of the corporate and its sellers. It’s made up of patrons who usually have generational loyalties to a model and act as ambassadors for it.
“Buyer loyalty is a big a part of that enterprise,” Yoon stated. “For lots of those folks, it doesn’t matter if their model is objectively the very best product or not. It’s simply that regardless of the automaker is doing, they really feel prefer it’s greatest for them.”
Bringing again the automaker’s well-known Hemi V-8 could have been an excellent begin, as Kuniskis stated the corporate obtained 12,000 Hemi orders on the primary day pickup vehicles with the engine had been obtainable for sellers to order.
Because the Hemi returns, Ram’s electrification plans, together with a brand new plug-in truck and an all-electric mannequin, are being delayed. Kuniskis declined to debate manufacturing timing for the all-electric mannequin, which was initially anticipated final 12 months. He stated the plug-in mannequin — generally known as an extended-range electrical car, or EREV — will start manufacturing this 12 months however declined to specify when client gross sales will start.
Kuniskis stated he believes the EREV will probably be extra of a differentiator available in the market and extra vital within the model’s turnaround plan by means of 2026.
“I’m actually bullish on the 12 months. I’m actually happy with how we began this 12 months and that’s simply utilizing conventional techniques,” Kuniskis stated. “We haven’t gotten to the brand new stuff but.”